The right-to-die activist who was arrested after an American woman died in the first-ever use of Sarco suicide pod has taken his own life, according to his boss.
Florian Willet, 47, was arrested last year after the 64-year-old woman’s death on charges of aiding and abetting suicide — as well as accusations of strangulation, which were later found to be untrue, leading to his release.
However, the arrest left Willet a “changed man” and he took his own life last month, revealed Dr. Philip Nitschke, the director of the Sarco pods company Exit International.
“Gone was his warm smile and self-confidence. In its place was a man who seemed deeply traumatized by the experience of incarceration and the wrongful accusation of strangulation,” he told Dutch newspaper Volkskrant.
It’s not clear if he used one of the pods to take his own life.
Willet, head of euthanasia advocacy group The Last Resort, an affiliate organization of Exit International, witnessed the US woman die in a cabin in the Swiss woods in September as she became the first to use “suicide pod.”
The controversial pod floods its chamber with nitrogen, causing the user’s oxygen levels to plummet to fatal levels within about 10 minutes.
“If you want to die, press this button,” the machine chillingly asks users once they climb inside before the gas is injected.
Willet was arrested immediately afterward by Swiss authorities and locked up as police investigated her death. He was released in December after officials ruled out intentional homicide.
Switzerland is one of the few countries where foreigners can travel to legally end their lives through assisted suicide — but Swiss officials said the controversial pod has not yet been approved for use.
One of Willet’s friends, Laura, told the paper that the “friendly, positive man” she knew had changed into an “anxious, suspicious person who no longer trusted even his best friends” after his detention.
“He lived in his own world. He became increasingly distant from his friends,” she added.
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